As Maryland personal injury specialists handling automobile and commercial trucking accidents, the professional legal team at the law offices of Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, recognizes the profound and life-changing events that can befall those innocent victims of traffic-related car, truck and motorcycle collisions. Having represented numerous individuals who have been hurt or severely injured in roadway wrecks throughout our state, we have seen the terrible results of many highway, interstate and beltway incidents.
Sadly, even with the most advanced passenger safety technology on today’s cars, trucks, minivan and sport utility vehicles, the chances of serious bodily injury still are quite high for some unlucky victims of Maryland automobile collisions. Drivers, as well as passengers, can be critically injured or even killed given the right circumstances. From broken bones and compound fractures to internal injuries, spinal cord damage and closed-head trauma, there is seemingly no end to the variety of injuries that occupants of a motor vehicle can experience in passenger car, commercial truck and mass transit accidents.
Anybody who has spent a modicum of time in a hospital emergency room setting will know that traffic accidents are some of the most violent events that the human body can endure and still survive. Yet, with all of the advancements in medical science, the extreme loss of blood is one of the many causes of death among automobile accident victims. Even in cases where a car accident victim survives the initial crash, blood loss and other trauma can cause the patient to faint or send him into shock. Speed of treatment is of the utmost importance in these kinds of roadway collisions, especially when massive blood loss has occurred.
Unfortunately, every year many thousands of people lose their lives as a result of motorcycle, passenger car and commercial trucking crashes. As Baltimore personal injury lawyers, Lebowitz & Mzhen is dedicated to assisting victims and their families recover damages following instances of negligence-related automobile and truck crashes. Our professional legal team helps those innocent victims to recoup monetary damages incurred as a result of a bad traffic collision, including emergency room expenses, hospitalization costs, rehabilitation charges and lost wages.
Of course, when it comes to motor vehicle collisions, especially those involving high-speed impacts, some of the more common injuries that victims can receive are lacerations. These kinds of serious cuts to the skin and underlying tissue are represented by a tearing of the body’s soft tissues. Aside from potentially life-threatening situations involving severe blood loss, many patients can be left with significant and sometimes disfiguring scars.
The various kinds of lacerations experienced by auto accident victims include cut-type lacerations, over-stretching lacerations, grinding compressions and split lacerations. Of these common types, the cut laceration is the most common and can occur when the victim comes in contact with a sharp object during an impact between two or more vehicles, or when a car, truck or motorcycle hits a stationary object on the roadside. In such situations, the sharp object typically breaks through at least the first layer of skin; and occasionally, one or more layers of the underlying epidermis.
In the case of an over-stretching laceration, which is relatively rare, the skin can be stretched to the point of breaking open due to friction with another object. This can happen when the victim’s body contacts another object moving in a different relative direction. The impact, which can occur when the victim’s skin strikes an object at an angle, pushes or pulls the skin with such force as to completely break or stretch the epidermis.
Yet another type of laceration, the grinding compression, can take place when the victim’s body hits an object with a relative brushing motion or even at a shallow angle. This grazing action can lift the skin and literally peel it back and away from the underlying tissue. As soon as the top layer of skin is peeled away, the other, deeper layers of epidermis will usually be compromised as well; without the protection of the skin, other tissue beneath the epidermis is often crushed.
Another kind of laceration is the so-called “split laceration,” which typically involves two objects crushing a portion of the victim’s body. The force and the direction of the two objects will usually result in severe compression of the epidermis and subsequent tearing of the skin and underlying tissue. The severity of this and other types of laceration will usually determine the medical treatment that a victim will receive at the scene of the accident and later in the emergency room.
In the field, minor laceration injuries can usually be treated without hospitalization. In such instances, emergency responders will often apply pressure to the wound in order to stop any minor bleeding. Once blood loss is controlled, the laceration can be cleaned and an antibiotic ointment applied to prevent infection. A sterile bandage can then be located over the area of the wound.
In more severe cases, such as following a severe automobile or motorcycle crash, the victim will usually require immediate and intensive hospital treatment. Typical examples of laceration injuries necessitating emergency room treatment include severe lacerations that are deep or that occur over a joint, those that cannot be cleaned sufficiently to avoid infection or wound contamination, or instances where a deep cut or laceration is suffered by an individual who has not had a tetanus shot or booster in the last five to 10 years.
As auto and trucking accident lawyers, the legal team at Lebowitz & Mzhen knows that hospital treatment for many kinds of lacerations will include stitches in order to stop any continued bleeding. Doctors and emergency room personnel also utilize stitches as a method to protect the underlying tissues and decrease the possibility of scarring.
Most stiches can generally be removed in just a few days to a couple weeks, depending on the area that was injured. Surprisingly, the human face heals remarkably quickly, which usually means that most doctors will leave stiches in for less than a week. However, in cases where a victim’s hand is affected, the stitches may need to remain in place for more than two weeks. Hand injuries can occur quite frequently in the case of car, truck and motorcycle accidents, which can also involve a great deal of pain and an inability to perform even the simplest of tasks during the recuperation period.
As experienced trial attorneys and auto injury lawyers, Lebowitz & Mzhen realizes the serious discomfort and sometimes debilitating effects that a traffic accident can have on almost anyone. There is no reason why an innocent victim of a negligent car or trucking accident should bear the burden of his or her medical treatment and lost wages due to another individual’s careless actions. We are available for consultation and to help you and your family recover damages arising from a serious road wreck.
We recognize that being involved in a bad car or truck accident is an often traumatic event that can abruptly interrupt the lives of everyone involved. For individuals who need assistance filing a personal injury claim following a serious traffic collision, the professional staff at Lebowitz & Mzhen is ready and willing to help victims, as well as their families. If you have sustained painful or disfiguring laceration injuries, please contact us at (800) 654-1949 for a free, no-obligation consultation. You can also email either Jack Lebowitz or Vadim Mzhen to schedule a meeting to discuss your case.